"He won't be doing the same thing in two or three years and he's not doing what he did four or five years ago. He knows himself well and what he needs to do."

Ronaldo's goal was his fourth goal of the tournament, more than his combined tally at three previous finals, and left him trailing just Iran's Ali Daei (109) on the list of top international scorers.

But Portugal survived two Morocco penalty appeals and the north Africans created a number of chances, notably a Younes Belhanda header that was superbly kept out by Rui Patricio.

'Anxiety'

It was far from a convincing Portuguese display and Santos admitted nerves played a factor, insisting they cannot overlook Iran in their final group game on June 25.

"There was a lot of anxiety because it's a World Cup, our team is a strong team but we have to grow," Santos said.

"We did well defensively, but we need more than that. We have to continue pushing forward and have to change certain things and get more of the ball."

"Nothing is set in stone," he added. "The important thing is the Iran game. Our first aim is to get out the group stage because there are very unpredictable results. Only then do you focus on the next stage which is all or nothing as a knockout."

For Morocco, a second successive defeat condemned them to an early exit in their first World Cup appearance since 1998.

"I'm not disappointed about the performance," Renard said. "I'm very happy with the performance. I'm very proud of my players, very proud of this country, very proud of everybody."

"We played an attacking style against a team that excels on the counter so you have to task risks," he added. "We took a lot but we weren't rewarded."

Renard said Morocco will attempt to bow out with "flying colours" against Spain next Monday, as he reflected fondly on his time in charge of the Atlas Lions.

"Two years ago we started a new journey, we were ranked 81st. I think we are ranked 41st now." said the Frenchman, who took over in February 2016.

"We qualified for the World Cup after 20 years and showed we can play football."